October Month End Grocery and Eating Out Budgets

I work to maintain $160 monthly budget with using sales, coupons and deals to get as much as I can as low priced as I can.  I make as much of our food as I can from scratch and use the items from the pantry and freezer to stretch the budget as far as possible.  Making our own bread, rolls and baked goods means that I am not running out of things and going to the store to get one thing that means that I get more then we need.

We also work to maintain a budget of $40 for eating out.  The total for both is $200 for the month.  It has been getting harder and harder to find the deals that make this budget possible but I work my hardest to get the most deals. 

The trips to the store are detailed below with the amounts and break downs with a picture of everything that I got.  The first half of the deals were broken down here so they are not detailed in this post but still pictured so you can see what I bought for the month.  The bottom has the total retail and the total savings with the total out of pocket spent so far this month.  Check out how I did against my monthly budget and what I got for that amount.

Harris Teeter $8.10

Harris Teeter $10.97

Harris Teeter $1.04

Harris Teeter $9.63

Target $1.52 
after gift card

Aldi $9.19

Harris Teeter $15.42

Aldi $32.01

Aldi $6.12

I went to the store to get a pumpkin with my son so that he could pick it out.  We never actually got to carve it but I hope he will let me cut it up and roast it.  My husband picked out the blackberries to make muffins and the cookies because they are one of his favorites.

Harris Teeter $0

I had a freebie to get this free for Taste and Tell and we really enjoyed it.

Harris Teeter $22.22

This shopping trip might be the one that I point to and say that I bought more then I was expecting but I got the soda on sale for $2.47 per case, the eggs for $0.77 each, the Chewy Granola Bars for $0.67 per box, the Kellogg's cereal for $0.97 per box, and the Muir Glen tomatoes for $0.33 per can which is less then I spent on the Harris Teeter brand a little while ago.  I thought my best best was the free Philly dip which actually ended up being a money maker with the Ibotta rebate for $0.50 back.  I was most happy with the Nivea deal where you bought any two and got $4 off instantly so I got the Shave cream with electronic coupon and the Aquaphor (normally almost $14 shelf value) for $0.10 after sale, coupon and instant savings. Overall it was tons of amazing deals that I couldn't pass up.

Harris Teeter $22.05

The store was out of the things that I went looking for so I looked around and got the popcorn that we were running low on sale for $1.69 per bag since it is hard to find at Aldi anymore.  The potatoes were $2.79 for 8 lbs which is less then the price at Aldi.  I got two Ocean Spray with my coupons so they were $1.18 at this store after coupon.  I got the Quaker Oatmeal for my husband and son for $0.77 each after sale and coupon.  I got the Beyond Burger for my husband to try for $0.99 after sale and coupon.  I got four bags of Halls for my husband because he was sick and they were on sale for $0.97 and there was an electronic $1 coupon.  I also got $1 back from Saving Star and $2 from Checkout 51.  I got the tea for my mom and asked her if she wanted to try the other new flavor but she didn't answer so I bought it and later returned it when she said no and subtracted the amount out of the total spent even though it is still in the picture.

Harris Teeter $3.58

I went to the store to get Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice because the sale started and the coupons were expiring.

Harris Teeter $3.58

Very excited to get a few more!!

Harris Teeter $3.58

Super excited to get these for $1.14 each so I used a few more coupons on the remaining Ocean Spray.

Harris Teeter $3.58

My husband went to the store and got three since they are his favorite.

Harris Teeter $10.79

I got some Cheez Its and Ocean Spray to use up more of my Ocean Spray coupons and my peelies on the Cheez Its to make them $1.75 per box.

Aldi $6.67

I went to the store to get a few things that I was out of including the saltine crackers because my husband was sick and he always ends up with soup and crackers.

Harris Teeter $16.78 

I went to another store to get some Cheez Its and Ocean Spray on the last day of the coupon and to use up my last peelies on the Cheese Its.

 Total Retail $563.13

 Total Savings $378.30

Total OOP $184.83

I was almost $25 over budget for the month but I can't look at what I bought and really point any fingers and something I did wrong.  It is getting harder and harder to find the deals that I used to get with more limited coupons.  I probably need to do better at chasing down the deals.

I work to do the best that I can and I couldn't pass up the Ocean Spray deal to get them for $1.14 each because we were almost out.  The Cheez Its worked out to a great deal and we haven't had them in awhile either so I decided to get them at $1.75 per box and my family has already eaten three boxes.

Did we need soda?  I probably could have passed on it but it was $10 of the whole picture and we all enjoy soda as a treat and drink in moderation so it doesn't seem like a ad choice in my book.  I bought 18 boxes of spaghetti which are going to be on sale in next weeks ad with a new coupon for $0.09 and I paid about $0.20 more per box.  I don't normally stock up when it is over a quarter but we were running low on pasta and it wasn't a horrible deal.

I have looked at the whole year and I have had 5 months where I have been over budget so far this year with the monthly average still coming close so I am waiting to see how the year ends up before I start rethinking the budget or how I am doing things.

Eating Out

We got Pizza Hut take out and went out at Cracker Barrel while on vacation but my parents paid for it because I made all the dinners in the room and packed lunch and snacks.  When we got home, we bought Chinese food for all of us to have for dinner for $40.12.  We got take out pizza after a soccer game but I used points to get it for free.  My son went with friends to SkyZone and he got an ICEE for $3.50 so we were a little over budget for the month by $3.62.  Many months we are under budget but I was over in both categories so overall not a great month.